High test molasses [HTM] is made from the sugarcane syrup [optionally also from sugar beet syrup], after removing impurities and concentrating it in boiler up to 85° Brix value. Sucrose in the high test molasses is partially inverted with enzymes or acids to glucose and fructose. It is necessary to invert the sucrose to avoid it being crystallized or solidified in the storage tanks at high concentrations. The composition of high test molasses differs from the traditional molasses and because of their higher sugar content, it is used mainly for production of alcohol. Due to their sweetness and liquid form, high test molasses is also utilized in food, baking and pharmaceutical industries. The shelf life of it is about six months, depending on storage and climatic conditions. Further such inverted sugar provides more powerful preserving qualities (a longer shelf life) to products that use it. Traditionally, inverted sugar is produced from sucrose using mineral acids like H2SO4 and HCl. This conventional method is corrosive, has low conversion efficiency, with more sugar loss. Further the obtained inverted sugar is darker in colour due to caramelisation of sugar during the process. The use of invertase enzyme has disadvantages of enzyme inactivation due to substrate contamination and cost. Therefore there is need to provide an improved method with less sugar lose and being economic. Herein this is achieved by using a mild acid treatment for partial inversion of sugarcane syrup; further said treatment is non-corrosive and non-degrading with much less sugar loss and the ease of unit operation.
The present invention provides a method for preparation of high test molasses from sugarcane syrup that is much efficient in terms of sugar recovery and the quality of the final product. Further the method has several advantages over the conventional methods, further providing economic advantages to the use of the disclosed invention.